When we went to New Zealand a dozen years ago, we were surprised to be handed a half-pint of milk when we checked into our hotel. We realized that it was to doctor up our tea, which we would be able to make with the electric kettle in our room. And every other hotel in New Zealand and Australia that we stayed in had a kettle too. We didn't use the milk, but I was in heaven. What could be nicer than a cup of tea on demand!
For many years I had used unsatisfactory methods of preparing the cups and cups of tea that fuel my existence from morning through dinnertime. I usually boiled a big pyroceram coffeepot full of water, threw in a couple of teabags, and hoped it would stay warm for a while (that worked for maybe an hour). Subsequently I would nuke the cooled tea in the microwave, but it never tasted quite as good.
But when we came home from the Southern Hemisphere I knew I needed an electric kettle. They were just starting to be available in the U.S. -- heck, I never even knew such a thing existed until that vacation -- and I was delighted to find one at Target. I've never looked back. I carry my kettle with me on vacation, to quilt retreats, even sometimes when I have an afternoon shift at the gallery. I even keep a duplicate kettle downstairs so I can fix tea when I'm in the studio without coming upstairs.
This kettle has a design flaw; both of mine (identical model) as they aged lost the ability to turn themselves off when the water boils. But I love them anyway. My lifestyle without a kettle would be much different, and much less pleasant.
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